Induced

Well, my blood pressure kept rising and the doctor has decided to induce labor tonight.  We will begin with some gel to soften the cervix and then on to petocin in the afternoon tomorrow.  Baby Girl Shack should be arriving sometime Nov. 1st or 2nd!  Exciting!

Baby Girl Shack Update!

 Guess where I am? After a great ultrasound appt this morning (baby girl is in the correct position and doing well - weighing about 5 lbs) I was promptly admitted to labor and delivery at St. Jude for preclampsia. By tomorrow night we will have an answer from the doctor about what to do: go home on bedrest, stay in the hospital on bedrest, or be induced for an early delivery. We are ready for anything but praying we can stay home on bedrest for a week or two longer before Baby Shack makes her appearance.

It is not a pretty sight folks...

I made the mistake of wearing socks tonight.  My legs and feet are soooo swollen!  It is a good thing I am on maternity leave after tomorrow because I am not sure my body can take another 11 hour work day.   I tried going to several drug stores to purchase compression stockings to help with the swelling but they 1) are soooooo expensive!  2)  don't have my size or style in stock.  Oh well.  I've gone without them this long a few more weeks won't matter.  I am 36 weeks tomorrow and getting more and more excited each day to meet our baby girl.  I love the suspense of not knowing when I will go into labor.  Last night Baby Girl had the hiccups for the first time.  It was a little freaky at first seeing my belly tick and twitch at a steady rhythm.  I had heard about babies getting hiccups in the womb but I had no idea how strong they could be.  Today she has been moving a ton!  Waaay more than normal.  We go for our last ultrasound on Halloween to check what position she is in and I am really excited to see how much she has grown and changed since our last ultrasound in June. 

Baby Shack Belly - 35 Weeks!

Heroic Hearts: Kristen

My brother Sam ran the half and Kristen ran the full marathon.

Last April my sister-in-law, Kristen, received some sad news.  Her dad Mike, a retired firefighter was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.   Mike, among many other things, was an adventurous guy who loved staying active and being outdoors.  Several family members and friends decided to train and run the Long Beach Marathon on October 9th in support of Mike in his battle with cancer.  Sadly he wasn't able to see this race because a few weeks ago after a long and arduous battle with cancer Mike passed away.  

Tears at the finish line: Kristen and her mom.

It was an emotional and victorious day as "Team Mike" ran their races in their purple shirts to honor Kristen's dad.  Her mom was waiting at the finish line where they quickly learned that Kristen had not only managed to finish the marathon, but managed to finish in the Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3 hours and 37 minutes!  Quite an impressive finish. So today I want to honor my sister-in-law and all of the "Team Mike" members for their heroic hearts as they endured miles of exhaustion in the midst of their grief to honor a great man who was so deserving of such an amazing tribute. 

Mike was a hero himself!

Baby Shower #2!!!

A few weeks ago the ladies from my church threw me a baby shower!  It was great to celebrate the soon to arrive Baby Girl Shack with my friends who have supported, encouraged, and prayed for Dan and I as we have struggled with infertility and pursued embryo adoption.

My lovely shower hostesses: Mindy, Lindsay, Sheryl, and Laura!

The theme of this baby shower was vintage ABCs.  Very cute and very appropriate for a teacher and avid children's book collector like myself. 

The rooms were filled with little vignettes of vintage ABC toys.

More cute vintage girly decorations by my sister in law Lindsay.

Me with my sister in law Lindsay who did all of the decorations.

It was such a fun tablescape full of yummy treats.  I especially enjoyed the cheese platter.

Check out this masterpiece!  It was as delicious as it looks.

Me with my Mom aka Grandma who has played such an important role already in our baby girl's little life.

I had fun making these fun goody bags filled with my Bath and Body Works favorites for my hostesses.

Our Unexpected Tour of Labor and Delivery

I had my 33 week OB appointment yesterday and Dr. B says Baby Girl Shack is doing well.  It has been rough to be back a work.  Today was particularly challenging.  A few weeks ago I blogged that my blood pressure had gone up since I returned to work and the doctor asked me to come in to labor and delivery to be examined since he was on duty at the hospital.  We checked in and they brought me to a delivery room where I put on the gown and got all hooked up to the monitors and blood pressure machine.  They did blood tests, urine analysis, and blood pressure checks every twenty minutes for about three hours.  The hospital is so nice and the nurses were especially kind and helpful.  I was lectured for not being hydrated enough so I have been working on drinking more water.  The tests all came back negative for preclampsia which was great news!  My blood pressure was elevated but not dangerously so.  Dr. B wanted me to cut back on my activity so since he said I could still continue working I have decided to take Mondays off and hire a friend to help me with my grade record keeping for work.  It has helped a ton and last week I had a good work week.  It was neat to get to see where I will be in labor and make my whole pregnancy seem that much more real to me. 

Yesterday at my Dr. appointment though my blood pressure was 140/100 again so they had me lay down for 5 minutes on my side and took my blood pressure again.  This time it read 130/80.  When Dr. B came in he was satisfied that the number had gone down so I should be able to finish out my last two and half work weeks before my leave begins on Oct 28th.  I am slightly concerned that when sitting up/standing up my blood pressure is so much higher than when I am laying down.  I hope Dr. B realizes that I don't lay on my side all day- I actually drive in heavy traffic several hours, stand on my feet most of the day, and deal with teenagers all day.  I don't mind finishing my work weeks.  I just want to make sure the baby is okay.  She certainly moves a ton and that is a good thing.  =)

"The Baby Shack Belly" at 33 weeks!

A Special Chair

When we began our adoption journey a few years ago we came across this wonderfully funky orange rocking chair in Dan's parent's house.  It was the rocking chair that Dan's mom and dad used in the 1970s to rock him in when he was a baby.  As a "first baby" gift my parents traditionally purchase a rocking chair as a gift for the family.  My mom offered instead to help us pay to have our special keepsake rocking chair reupholstered.  We had the chair in storage for two years and this past August it finally came out and I shopped around for the perfect fabric.  Just this week we got it back from the upholstery shop and we were so happy with the results!  It is such a comfy chair and I love how wide it is.  The shop owner's son said it had been sitting in their showroom for the past week and people had been ogling it.  It was so fun to put it in the near finished nursery and picture myself rocking our baby girl to sleep in it.  Thanks Mom and Dad for such a special gift that will always remind us and our kids of both sets of their grandparents! It is a great way to honor Dan's mom and dad who would have loved to meet our little girl if they were still with us. 

This chair has seen a lot of love

A better look at the fabric and the new hammered nail brads.  We also added black pipping for visual interest.

A close up of the fabric we chose:  funky, vintage, whimsical, and timeless.